The life of a stunt performer is one with inherent risk. While the vast majority of movie stunts happen with no problems, injuries can occur and sometimes those injuries are quite serious. Olivia Jackson ended up in a medically induced coma with an amputated arm following an accident on the set of Resident Evil: The Final Chapter, and she says it's because of last minute changes to the stunt that she hadn't been made aware of.
The motorcycle stunt itself was apparently something of a last minute addition. Olivia Jackson, who was Milla Jovovich's stunt double on the film, said she'd been practicing a fight sequence for weeks when, on the first day of filming, she learned that the scene had been replaced with a motorcycle stunt. Motorbikes were a particular specialty for Jackson, and after a couple of practice runs, the stunt seemed ok, but then, she says the stunt changed further without her knowledge. According to Jackson...
Numerous things were changed at the last minute that I wasn’t aware of. Which resulted in the crane operator not lifting the crane in time and basically driving it straight into my left arm and left shoulder.
While the specifics of what actually changed aren't mentioned by THR, these changes apparently resulted in the operator of the camera crane, which was mounted to a van being driven directly at Jackson on her motorcycle, not lifting the crane in time. It collided with her left arm and shoulder at speed.
Last week Olivia Jackson filed a lawsuit against production companies Tannhauser Gate Inc, Impact Pictures and Bolt Pictures as well as producer Jeremy Bolt and director Paul Anderson.
In addition to being in a medically induced coma for 17 days and losing her left arm, Jackson is partially paralyzed as a result of the accident. This also wasn't the only tragedy on the film set, as another crew member died in a separate accident.
Beyond the tragedy of the event itself, Olivia Jackson's lawsuit claims that she was told that the film's insurance would completely cover her, but that it did not. The lawsuit doesn't name a specific figure that is being requested, but considering Jackson's medical needs since the accident, and that they are ongoing, it certainly appears the requests will be significant.
None of the parties being sued have spoken publicly about the incident since the suit was filed. Because of the ongoing legal matter it seems unlikely anybody will be responding publicly.
As is frequently the case, the circumstances leading to Olivia Jackson even being part of Resident Evil: The Final Chapter was random happenstance. Another stunt performer who was supposed to be on the film got injured and was unable to do the job. Jackson took the job to simply fill in before another job she had already booked. She was going to be part of the stunt team working on Wonder Woman which was filming in the U.K where she lives.
Certainly, this story still has more to tell. If the lawsuit actually makes it to trial and isn't settled out of court we'll learn a lot more about the events of that day.
